VintageGent’s Menswear Daily

April’s Worst Shirts: Maybe Not THAT Bad

The New York Magazine fashion blog, The Cut, opined on the best and worst fashion editorials for April 2010.  On the “Loser” list were these selections from the April issue of Details

Worst Men’s Shirts – Details

There is maybe one acceptable shirt in these two pages, and that is the white one in the top left that is barely visible. The girl in the yellow dress with her hands in her ears screaming “LA LA LA LA LA” has the right idea.

Do we agree?  No and Yes.  Fashion is sometimes about the appropriateness for the application and how confidently one can pull it off.  Fashion is surely the ability to identify what is best suited to one’s frame and personality and come up with a look where the person and not an overbearing shirt or hat is what is the first thing noticed.  However, sometimes we are in danger at scoffing at creativity.  “Creative” dressing is snidely and condescendingly relegated to someone who is an “artsy” type and it is assumed one is referring to baggy and unkempt.

While the delivery may not be what the editor of this “worst” gallery would like to see, the man on the right is sporting a look that could easily be pulled together using vintage clothing elements as long as it was worn with confidence.  The shirt pattern and color combination may be too casual for the suiting material and boutonniere hole by traditional views or tried and true styling rules. However, it seems that the editor is objecting to the shirt rather than the suit.  To me, the shirt is what is setting the tone here and my eye instantly goes to wanting to alter some details of the jacket to make it work a little better. There is nothing innately wrong with that shirt for the right gent if one can carry it off.  In trying to aspire to this look, pair a vintage shirt with a jacket of a different era, otherwise you will look like you are playing “dressup.”  If you are a 20 year old hipster, you may get away with it, of course.

If you are looking for a patterned shirt to try the first look in your own way…here are three worthy candidates from three different decades going with a cooler color palette. Hawaiian shirts purposely omitted, as that throws things into a whole atmosphere.

Left to right: “Jailbird” 50s striped shirt from FastEddiesRetroRags, Polyester oxford on Etsy from stephaniegeisler, 1960s Atomic shirt from DressThatMan.com

However, the gents in the upper left don’t fare as well, individually, unless they were aspiring mimes.  In numbers, however, it appears that this is some sort of “happening,” or they a part of a deliberate group. I am not sure what the “group” is set out to do. I most likely would steer clear of the whole bunch. While the shirts may not be as noxious paired with jeans, the ties are what influences me to believe someone put this together to be ironic.   Oddly enough, I looked again and there are only two striped shirts here, and two ties, but not both on striped shirts.  I suppose my feelings about the shirts just made me believe there were more of them out there.